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TerraLUX takes its LED technology in a new direction

Longmont company turns its focus to converting existing fixtures into LED lights

By Tony KindelspireLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
11/23/2013 09:12:28 PM MST

Updated:
11/23/2013 09:13:46 PM MST

LED lighting made by Longmont company TerraLUX is seen in the down lights and rings of lights in the sanctuary at United Church of Christ in Longmont. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)
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Matthew Jonas
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Production worker Elia Barber works to assemble a downlight retro fit kit at TerraLUX in Longmont recently. Retrofitting existing light fixtures into LED lights has become a major focus for the company. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)
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Matthew Jonas
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When it came to time to retrofit the lighting inside the sanctuary at United Church of Christ in Longmont, it was a local company, TerraLUX, that the church called.

Mike Ermentraut, the church's facilities manager, liked the fact that TerraLUX was a local company, he said. He also liked that TerraLUX was able to retrofit each of the church's current light fixtures and convert them to LED, rather than installing all new lights. That meant a huge cost savings, he said.

Also, TerraLUX's energy-efficient LED lighting fits with the church's mission of being environmentally conscious, said associate minister Luke Grobe, and that added efficiency meant rebates were available through Boulder County's EnergySmart program and from Platte River Power Authority, offsetting some of the church's cost for the conversion.

Already, since they were installed in August, the church has noticed a big difference in electricity costs, Ermentraut said, because the air conditioner has to run a lot less.

"Each of the sconces on the wall was cast aluminum, and they had 150-watt halogen bulbs in them, so the whole fixture would get super-hot," he said.

Along one wall, a row of 10 of them are now outfitted with 12-watt LED bulbs, and the entire row of them combined puts out less heat than what one of the old halogen fixtures put out.

Retrofitting light fixtures is a major business focus of TerraLUX, which relocated from Gunbarrel to Longmont in 2010.

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The company has been around since 2003, when chief technology officer Tony Catalano launched it based on white LED technology which, at the time, was new. LED -- light-emitting diodes -- technology had been around for decades, but white LED lighting opened up huge potential for LED in countless applications, Catalano said.

LED lights differ from incandescent and fluorescent bulbs because they are small, solid bulbs that are extremely energy efficient and bright but are directional, meaning the light doesn't cover a broad area like the other two. Clustered together, however, LED bulbs are put into lenses that diffuse the light, still using much less energy than the other two types of bulbs.

A consultant on solar cell technology at the time, Catalano first converted the patio lights at his house into LED lights and soon, operating out of his home, started selling conversion kits for mini-MAG flashlights. The inexpensive kits would convert regular flashlights into LED flashlights, and it didn't take long for sales to take off. By 2005 TerraLUX had moved into its first facility.

Parts for TerraLUX LED upgrade kits are seen near an assembly area at company headquarters on Lefthand Circle in Longmont. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)
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Matthew Jonas
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It still sells those conversion kits, along with LED flashlights it makes itself. It also sells its LED technology to large lighting manufacturers that incorporate TerraLUX-made LED parts into fixtures they sell.

But the company has since taken the same retrofitting technology it uses in flashlights and scaled it up to work in much larger fixtures, according to Erik Milz, vice president of sales and marketing. Specifically, it's strategically targeting the "decorative application" market, he said.

"You don't see us doing streetlights for example," Milz said. "There's a lot of LED companies out there focusing on streetlights and parking lots."

Churches, hotels, libraries and school campuses are all natural targets for the company, said Matthew Sallee, who handles business development and LED retrofitting for TerraLUX.

"We worked with Longmont Housing Authority to update their hallway sconces (in one of its buildings)," Sallee said. "These are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we were able to save them over 70 percent.

"And on top of that, the quality of the light in their hallways went up."

With about 60 fixtures converted to LED lights in the housing authority's building at 600 Coffman St., its annual electricity bill went from $1,881 to about $643 annually, Sallee said.

He added that although the LED lights are more expensive to install, the money saved on replacement parts and operating expenses means the lights pay for themselves in a relatively short amount of time. And, given the push for environmental sustainability in a myriad of industries, Sallee said his company feels there is a lot of potential just from the retrofitting side of the business.

Catalano said that having been around for 10 years makes his company one of the more mature LED companies. Since its founding, TerraLUX has earned 24 patents, either awarded or pending, he said, and 14 of them came just this year.

He said the entire lighting market, globally, is about $70 billion per year.

"And only a fraction of that is LEDs, so the potential for a company like TerraLUX is enormous," Catalano said.

TerraLUX employs about 50 people at its Lefthand Circle headquarters, along with sales representatives around the country.

"We're guessing we'll probably double (revenue) in the next year," Catalano said, declining to be specific. "In the history of the company we've grown, on the low end, 20 percent a year, and on the high end, 50 percent a year."

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